Installing wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine is a serious environmental and investment error. Maine can access Quebec Hydro for its immediate power needs with no damage to the environment – and enjoy the benefits of their low electrical rates. In the longer term, we can build new nuclear plants that will provide dependable power with carbon-free energy 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

I was saddened to learn that Maine Audubon is condoning and promoting offshore wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine (“Opinion: Offshore wind in Gulf of Maine an opportunity we can’t ignore,” Sept. 29). These wind turbines represent an existential threat to seabirds and migrating songbirds. The blade tips on these large turbines will be traveling at several hundred miles per hour, and birds will have no chance of surviving them. Tens of thousands of birds will be killed every year.

It reminds me of the building the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. At the time, environmentalists said that only 5% of the salmon would not negotiate the fish ladders and turbines. Once additional dams were built, one of the world’s greatest salmon fisheries was virtually destroyed.

Andy Beahm, executive director of Maine Audubon, represents a group that is funded to support our bird population. I find it tragic that he “looks the other way” and ignores an existential threat that will kill millions of birds when fully developed. One only needs to visit the Coachella Valley in Southern California to see hundreds of wind turbines and dead birds under these turbines to appreciate the problem.

Siemens recently announced multibillion-dollar losses from sea-based turbines. Saltwater conditions are prematurely destroying their components. These increased costs will show up in future electrical rates.

Recently Sweden canceled the construction of 13 new wind farms in the Baltic Sea, citing defense and security concerns. There is simply no reason to subsidize and support offshore wind projects.

Finally, all mechanical systems wear out and fail. The cost of decommissioning and removing these turbines from the Gulf needs to be included in any justification for this project. We have already seen the extraordinary cost of a single blade failure near Nantucket at the Vineyard Wind last July, resulting in the closure of six beaches due to debris washing ashore.

The building of offshore windmills is an unwise decision. It needs to be abandoned before it causes irreparable harm.

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